


Abandon All NOPE

by gwendy1



Series: Cas/Jo Fix-It Verse [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-16
Updated: 2013-06-16
Packaged: 2017-12-15 03:37:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/844844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwendy1/pseuds/gwendy1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if, in <i>Abandon All Hope</i>, Ellen had stopped Cas from going off, he stayed with them, and Jo & Ellen survived?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Abandon All NOPE

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aron_kristina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aron_kristina/gifts).



> Yay! I hope you enjoy this. I may have a sequel treat ready by reveals, but if not it'll be included with this as part of a series. :)

Jo bends over and leans eagerly into Castiel’s space, smiling so big and wide that she can feel it in the muscles of her face -- unused to the simple joy of enjoying meeting someone, getting to know them.

Castiel gazes up at her with those brilliant blue eyes, so earnest. “I do find myself preferring the taste of this beer.”

“Yeah?” She grins. “Another one coming right up,” Jo says, a little flushed and hoping she sounds just perky enough for her mother to catch the hint. She’s calling dibs on this one.

As she bends over once more to dig another beer out of the fridge, Jo begins to wonder if she’s being a little too obvious. But she can’t seem to help it; this is the most excited she’s felt in a while. Cas is, beyond fascinating and turning all her preconceived notions on their heads, unexpectedly funny. And doesn’t know it, which is attractive. Not to mention how hot he is.

Just as she turns, there’s Dean looming and Jo startles a bit and smiles.

“Hey,” he says. And she automatically returns the greeting. He continues, “So... dangerous mission tomorrow,” cozying up to her and leaning against the counter next to her. “Time to eat, drink, and you know... make merry.”

Wow. She recoils in surprise. “Are you giving me the ‘last night on earth’ speech?” Really, Dean?

“What?” He fakes incomprehension.

She mimics him playfully. “What?”

“No,” Dean replies, denying it. He laughs and repeats, “no,” as if that’s convincing. Then, of course, he says, “If I was, would that work?”

Now Dean wants her? He hasn’t before, but now there’s the prospect of no tomorrow and no strings. She doesn’t appreciate the thought.

In fact, Jo decides to play up this rejection, leaning up and in, dragging her fingers across his head, and letting him get so close to thinking he’s got her... then she stops him -- pushes him away. “No,” she states definitively. Jo goes on to make it as clear as possible, “Sweetheart, if this is our last night on earth, then I am going to spend it with a little thing I call self respect.” She laughs him off and turns, stepping with confidence over to rejoin her mother and Castiel.

~

They drive down the quiet and damp streets, Cas in the back seat. Dean pulls his Impala to the side and confers with her mom, directing them to stay in the area and look for townspeople while he and Sam check out the local police department. Ellen parks the car and she and Jo both get out, but Cas lingers in the car.

Jo knocks on the window and smiles at him. “Ever heard of a door handle?”

“‘Course I have,” comes his reply, from right next to her on the sidewalk where he has appeared within the blink of an eye.

He’s frowning at their surroundings. It looks uninhabited or abandoned to her own eyes. But his alarmed expression suggest that he’s picked up on something that they haven’t.

“What is it, Cas?” Ellen prompts him.

“Reapers,” he replies.

“Reaper _s_?” She asks, emphasizing the plurality. “As in more than one?”

His eyes dart around, as if taking in many. “They only gather like this in times of great catastrophe. Chicago Fire, San Francisco Quake, Pompeii.”

Jo shivers and attributes it to the slight chill. Which hopefully was not a sign of her passing through any incorporeal hood men. As if one reaper being present isn’t enough to put her on edge.

“Excuse me, I need to find out why they’re here.” Cas takes a step forward, but Ellen latches on to his coat and stops him.

“Whoa. Hey. Now’s not the time to be splitting up. We stick together.”

Turning back to them, Cas nods at Ellen and Jo. “Alright. I suppose we can safely assume, though, that many of the missing residents of this town are deceased,” he says, face grim.

~

“The station’s empty,” Dean reports when they meet back up.

“So’s everything else,” Jo responds.

“Except for the Reapers,” Ellen pipes in and nods over at Cas.

“Reapers?” Dean questions.

Sam addresses Cas, “You saw Reapers? Where?”

Cas is still keeping an attentive eye on the area, so Jo answers for him with a grimace, “Well, kind of... everywhere.”

~

They’ve left their vehicles and are marching down the thoroughfare, guns in hand and extra weapons at the ready. Cas strides with them -- empty handed, though -- appearing deceptively unarmed, if Jo didn’t know any better.

“There you are!”

They whip around to face the crowing voice.

“Meg,” Sam shouts in dismayed recognition.

“Shouldn’t have come here, boys,” Meg teases, demonic in her cheer at their predicament.

Dean pulls the Colt on her, but before he can do anything more Jo notices Cas stiffen suddenly beside her and he does that disappearing trick.

Cas appears so swiftly near Meg, plunging his angelic weapon -- a short sword of some kind -- down into the air, that he startles her.

“Shit,” Meg shouts, jumping.

But what catches Jo’s and everyone else’s attention is the sharp yelp and brief glow from the space Castiel just stabbed into. That sounded animal.

Dean’s points both his wide-eyed gaze and the Colt to the ground in front of them and backs up slowly. “Fuckin’ hellhounds!”

An errant puddle-splash draws Dean’s aim and he shoots, eliciting another yelp, a splatter of black blood, and presumably killing the hell beast.

No sooner than the sound of growling starts, Sam, Jo, and Ellen each shoot into the direction it seems to be coming from. Several rounds make contact, wounding the hellhound and revealing its location to Dean who finishes it off.

But there’s the beat of another hound’s heavy paws heading straight for her and Jo’s heart feels like it’s about to seize in her chest.

Suddenly, Cas is there and her brain has no time to catch up.

Castiel clamps a firm hand around her waist and swings her away while incapacitating the hellhound with his other hand. He does it so quickly, though, -- her hair twirling away from her face -- and with such precision that for that split second it feels like he’s spinning her in a dance.

Barely a moment passes, but everything stills into silence -- leaving only Jo’s gasping breaths as she detaches herself from clutching at Cas.

They each listen carefully, on alert. Not only does there seem to be no more hellhounds attacking, but Meg also is gone.

“She’s fled.” Cas states, stalwart and battle ready, but obviously no longer concerned over hellhounds. “We must go now to stop Lucifer.”

~

After the Colt utterly failing to stop Lucifer or prevent him from finishing some ritual to call forth the horsemen, they regroup at a motel several towns away. They’re all disheartened at the failure of the mission but relieved that Cas was able to get them all out of there. They survived, which is worth celebrating in Jo’s book.

They get two rooms -- one for Dean and Sam, and one for Jo and her mom -- but Jo’s got plans.

The Winchesters and Ellen are discussing getting take out, and Jo takes the opportunity to sidle up to Cas.

She smiles. “So, we live to fight another day.”

Castiel offers her a small smile in return, perhaps unaccustomed to showing pleasure. Or maybe just being pleased at all.

Jo reaches out to clasp his hand and lace their fingers together. “Would you like to go somewhere private and celebrate with me?”

Cas blinks, a little slow on the uptake, but he squeezes her hand and replies, “Yes, I would like to go somewhere private and celebrate with you.”

“--they don’t deliver,” Ellen is just finishing saying, when she calls over to Jo, “Honey, tell me what you want. I’m about to go get us some food.”

Jo grins. “No, I’ll pass on the food,” she says, towing Cas past them by the hand. “Don’t wait up!” Luckily, she’s got enough pocket money for another room.


End file.
